Can't select paths from PDF file in Illustrator

Question

I need to work with this file for a school project I have.

Currently I am trying to make roads. I saw that the roads in the original image will work fine with what I am working on, so I am tried coping them, but then found out Illustrator won't select the path.

When I click with the select on a path, it ends up selecting the entire image.

At first I though that was because the image was grouped, but there is no option to ungroup it. Using the direct select tool is a no go as well, since I would have to manually select every anchor in a road and at that point, I might as well just trace it.

I would really love an answer as to how I can select a whole path with out selecting the rest of the image. Or at the very least, an explanation as to why this is.

Answer 1

All of the layers in the file are in clipping masks.

Right click the whole file and release clipping mask. In the layers palette you will see a bunch of clipping mask layers. You can either continue to right click the "image" and continue to release the clipping mask to get to where you want to do edits or you can find the roads clipping path and delete the layer just below. You can click on a single road and the you will be able to click on a single road and select them all.

Keep mind they (the roads) will still be in a clipping path unless you release them and work on them individually.